


Dark And Still (alternatively, Taako leaves way too many dramatic voicemails)

by MakeAStriderSmile



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (Not that he would ever admit it to anyone besides his Fantasy Voicemail (tm) ), Angst and Fluff, Conveyed mainly through Fantasy Voicemail (tm), Drabble, Hurt and a little comfort, M/M, Spoilers for the Wonderland Arc and onward, Taako has real feelings stop the goddamn presses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 05:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10690608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakeAStriderSmile/pseuds/MakeAStriderSmile
Summary: This work is pretty much un-beta'ed, drabbly mess, as well as my first fic for the TAZ fandom. Beware minor spoilers for prior to the Wonderland arc, and then major spoilers for literally every episode afterward, I guess. You have been warned.





	Dark And Still (alternatively, Taako leaves way too many dramatic voicemails)

**Author's Note:**

> This is more or less devoted to my sister, who refuses to listen to the rest of the Adventure Zone until Kravitz is freed from the Eternal Stockade.  
> So, to you, Kyla, I give you angst. You fuckin' nerd. Love you.
> 
> And to everyone else, I hope my tiny contribution to this fandom will be worthwhile. I've really gotten into this podcast lately, and, as a matter of fact, was listening to The Chalice from the 11th Hour OST on repeat the whole time I was writing this.  
> All these characters belong to the McElroy bros and their dad, The Adventure Zone isn't mine, I just taunt these boys with the idea of happiness. Please don't sue me, Griffin.

The Astral Plane was dark and still. It was usually dark and still, granted, but this was the wrong kind of dark and still. The kind of dark that sucks in even the thought of light. The kind of still that spurs everything in the universe to a stop. The kind of empty that makes you wonder if there was ever meant to be anything there at all.

 

There is a fortress. Hewn of stone, stillness and darkness, the Eternal Stockade.

 

The doors forced open by someone. Something. If there was something there once, there is nothing there now. Just a few feathers, covered in a thick, tar like substance, pulsing with glimmering threads of color.

 

There is a stone. On the ground by the door. A stone emblazoned with the universal, or perhaps interplanar, or interdimensional, symbol for communication. A Stone of Farspeech.

 

It pulses, soft and blue. Its owner nowhere to be found. Someone has left him multiple messages.

 

“... _ Hey, Krav, just wanted to know if you wanted to go for dinner, training’s brutal right now, I could use a bit of relaxation, if you know what I’m sayin’, my guy. ...Oh, actually, hold that thought. New mission. I’ll tell you how it goes! _ ”

 

“ _...Kravitz. I… I just left Wonderland. I, uh. Gods, I don’t even know how long we were in there. There was… so much. We lost so fucking much. Mags, he, he lost his  _ body _. He lost his fuckin’ body, Krav. I lost something too. Won’t tell you what it is right now, but it’s.. kinda important to me, I guess. We can talk about it when I see you. Still on for dinner, right..? Heh. Anyway. I… I’ll talk to you. Soon. _ ”

 

“ _...I should have grabbed you. I saw you. I saw you there, and I didn’t even think, I just took Mags and pulled, and I didn’t even-- ...I didn’t even think. I didn’t think. B-but you can handle yourself, right? You’re just not responding because you and your Raven Mom are kickin’ ass. Bet you can totes handle all that gross looking tentacle stuff in the Astral Plane. ….That’s how we met, remember? Black gross ass tentacles. I tentacled your dick right the fuck up, didn’t I? And you still.. Still chose this. Me, I mean. The fuckin’ weird way we met and you still chose this.  _

 

_...I don’t know why I didn’t just say fuck it all and grab you. Maggie can handle himself. He’s smart. You were… gods, you were  _ drowning _ , and I… Krav, if you hear this before we see each other, and we  _ will  _ fucking see each other, you best believe we will… I’m sorry. So fucking sorry. _ ”

 

The next one takes on a scratchier quality, like the voice on the other end is speaking through a completely different stone.

 

“ _ Right, so, I snatched this from a drawer in Lucretia’s office so I could send you this before we get started.  _

 

_ Right. Okay. There’s some stuff I wanna say, and then more stuff, and then I gotta go, because we’re about to save reality or what the fuck ever. _

 

_ First off, I think I know why you had all those bounties on us. There’s a lot we didn’t remember. A whole fuckin’ century worth of dying. But I remember now. I remember every damn thing and… I remember my sister. Bet you never knew I had one. She was… she is.. Lup. She’s kind of in my Umbra Staff, I think. Gods, she would have hated you. Or maybe she would have loved you. All buttoned up, tall dark and handsome. She woulda tentacled you up long before I had the chance if she was with the guys instead of me. You’d like her. You would have liked her. I mean, besides the fact that she tried to kill you on our first date. Pretty sure that was her. _

 

_ I was thinking… maybe after this, you could use your fancy death magic and… get her out of there. I don’t know if she’s still alive, or just a soul, or  _ something _ , but I know you could do it. I trust you to save my sister more than I could trust anyone else to do it. And let me tell you, babe, trust is a hard ass commodity to come by with me right now. I don’t trust a damn thing save for myself, my sister, and… and you. I trust you.  _

 

_ I trust you to get out and stay safe and come back to me, Krav. _

 

_ Don’t break that trust. I love you. _ ”

 

“ _ Okay, I totally forgot to tell you the second thing. But now I don’t even remember what the second thing was. I’m just so frazzled out by all this Red Robe, IPRE, whatever the fuck it is, bullshit. I just keep thinking ‘wow, how did I forget so damn much?’ and then I think ‘what does it matter, we’re all about to die like idiots?’ and then I think ‘things would be so much easier if Krav were here’. ...Things would be so much easier if you were here. My big strong bone guy, reaping The Hunger right the fuck up. You could do that, I bet, couldn’t you? _

 

_ Taako, are you com- Yes, yes, I’m just finishing up, gimme a god damn minute here!  _

 

_...I gotta go. Saving the world, hoo-fuckin’-rah.  _

 

_ Okay, just so the last thing I potentially say to you isn’t cynical, I’m leaving it here. _

_ I love you, Kravitz. Best bone boyfriend ever. _ ”

 

The next message nearly starts, but is just as soon interrupted by what seems to be a hand covering the stone. More accurately, the barely recognizable bones that make up the spindly fingers of the emissary of the absentee Raven Queen, the bounty hunter of the Astral Plane, reaper of unfortunate souls, and sole destroyer of The Hunger in the dark and still of the Eternal Stockade, stained with sticky black tar-like goo, and something that looks uncomfortably like blood.

 

“Taako?”

 

“ _ Krav! _ ”

 

“I need your help. I’m… kind of stuck here.”

 

“ _ L-little in the middle of somethin’, hun. _ ”

 

“No, it’s fine, I can wait, just… do hurry. It’s really fucking dark here.”

 

“ _ I’ll get my best people on it. Hey, Ango! Need your kickass wizardy skills to pull my boyfriend from the void! Sir? You heard me, get on it! Y-yes sir! Are you seriously sending the kid to pull that guy out from the hell plane or whatever? Yes, Merle, go help. Me? What the hell am I gonna do? Provide moral support, I don’t fuckin’ know! Just go. ...Fine. Okay, got em on it. _ ”

 

“Did.. you just recruit a child and a servant of Pan to release the Grim Reaper?”

 

“ _ Former servant of Pan, babes. And yeah. _ ”

 

“...I’ll ask later.”

 

“ _...Hey. _ ”

 

“Yes?”

 

“ _ You know I love you, right? And I would have grabbed you. If I’d known. _ ”

 

“...Yes, dear. I know. And I love you.”

 

“ _....Okay. I think I can get through whatever else this shit throws at me now. I’m gonna go, Mags is freakin’ out again, but… I’ll see you soon, ‘kay? _ ”

 

“Of course. I have no doubt that Merle and Angus will sufficiently perform their task. ….Be safe. No dying on me, remember? I don’t want to arrive just to have to reap your soul.”

 

“ _ Yeah, no, of course, I’m not a dummy, dummy. I’ll be fine. You stay safe too, you hear? Don’t get overrun or whatever before I get a chance to kiss that handsome face again. _ ”

 

“Yes, Taako. Go do your thing. I love you.”

 

“ _ I love you. _ ”

 

Kravitz, emissary to the Raven Queen, reaper of souls, and lover of an idiot savant wizard named Taako, seats himself by the entrance to the Eternal Stockade, eyes closed, and he waits.

 

And waits.

  
And hears a sound like tearing paper, and smiles. After everything, someone had come for him after all.

**Author's Note:**

> With all that said and done, I do hope you enjoyed! As mentioned, this fic was un-beta'ed, something I slammed out in about an hour or so while on heavy painkillers. Hope someone out there enjoyed.


End file.
